VISIT OF ALISON AND MICHAEL BROWN, JANUARY /FEBRUARY 2013

Ali and Mike Brown enjoyed a busy three week visit from January 17th to February 10th 2013. They write: “At the invitation of the Vice Chancellor, we spent eight days at the Sabaragamuwa University where we engaged with lecturers, university staff and external students in daily sessions of ‘spoken English’ whose purpose was to give the participants confidence to speak English without worrying about perfect grammar. We were also fortunate enough to visit the Army Officer Training Academy at Diyathalawa to discuss the problems the staff encounter teaching recruits the English medium. We attended the opening of the new wells at Koonawalana and Handapanagala, and in Matara we paid visits to the pre-schools at Kirelawela and Hiththatiya. Both were obviously thriving. In Kirelawela a presentation was being given to teachers, parents and village elders on the subject of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence and in Hiththatiya the children were keen to join us in action songs. We look forward to visiting again next year.”